Dongyi

The twenty-seventh day of Ma Xianyang’s neck being crooked.

Hour of Mao.

The sky was as dark as ink.

Thick fog pressed down on the lake's surface, making it impossible to distinguish a figure more than ten paces away.

Three miles west of Yunyi Island.

A small black-awning boat, like a ghost, hovered on the vast, misty water, gently rising and falling with the ripples.

Shen Xiuhan stood like a stone carving, his feet pinned to the slippery bow. He remained completely motionless, letting the waves lap against the gunwales.

With his left hand clasped behind his back, he pinched an ordinary black thread between the index and middle fingers of his right hand.

The end of the line hung silently over the gunwale, disappearing into an underwater reef cave where undercurrents surged.

A strange ripple spread silently from his fingertips down the black thread, sinking into the dark depths.

【Thousand Lakes Fishing】!

The next moment, Shen Xiuhan's finger sank.

The fishing line, which had been swaying with the waves, suddenly snapped taut. A massive, brutal downward pull rushed from his fingertips straight up his spine, causing the boat to tilt slightly!

“It bit!”

A sharp light flashed in Shen Xiuhan's eyes. “What a beast, it's quite a size!”

Had it been an ordinary fisherman, they would have been dragged underwater in the blink of an eye by this immense force, becoming fish food.

But Shen Xiuhan's Chong meridian blood qi erupted, and the 'sea of blood' within his body seemed to open its floodgates, pumping out an endless stream of strength.

His relaxed muscles tightened like rocks, bulging one by one. He pressed his weight down through his legs, making the deck planks creak.

With a loud splash, his downward pressure actually caused the bow of the boat to tilt up several feet out of the water!

At the same time, veins like small snakes bulged on his right arm, stretching from his shoulder blade down to his fingertips.

Shen Xiuhan exhaled and shouted, swinging upward with all his might as he let out a low, cold grunt.

“Up!”

The source of the black line rose like a flood dragon emerging from the sea.

In an instant, it tore through the calm water, dragging up a massive green afterimage.

Splash!

Water splashed everywhere.

Through the morning mist, a large fish over half a person's length, covered in pitch-black, iron-like scales, was dragged from the deep reef by that irresistible force and pulled into midair.

A Tier Two Precious Fish... 【Ink-Bone Blue Fish】!

Once out of the water, this Precious Fish instantly realized danger was imminent.

Its tail, as broad as an iron fan, thrashed wildly. Every strike against the air produced a sharp cracking sound, sending gusts of wind into his face as it tried to break free from the thin black line and dive back to the bottom of the lake.

Its scales gleamed, and its opening and closing mouth revealed sharp, forest-white teeth, showing it was clearly no gentle creature.

“Still want to run?”

The corner of Shen Xiuhan's mouth curled up. His five fingers curved slightly as he lunged forward like lightning, his fingertips carrying a sharp, fierce force that could claw the wind and tear the mist.

【Heavenly Eagle Wind-Tearing Hand · Heavenly Eagle Neck-Wring】!

His iron-like fingers precisely pinched the opening and closing gills, his fingertips sinking deep into the gill slits.

The large fish, which had been struggling brutally just a moment ago, instantly seemed to have its life force locked. Its entire body went stiff, and it went limp.

Shen Xiuhan held the massive creature, which weighed at least sixty to seventy catties, with one hand. Feeling the fiery, hot blood qi contained beneath its flesh, he couldn't help but marvel.

“Look at this size. It must have grown for at least twenty or thirty years... If you were allowed to grow in this lake for a few more years, who knows if you might actually undergo a complete transformation and advance to a Tier Three 【Black-Scaled Bone Fish】?”

Shen Xiuhan sighed with emotion.

With a flick of his right hand, he opened a specially purchased, large iron creel and stuffed the Precious Fish inside.

Then, he threw the creel back into the water to keep the fish alive for now, tying the rope securely.

This 【Ink-Bone Blue Fish】 was far larger than any Precious Fish he had caught before.

If he brought it back to the Mei Courtyard and handed it to his master to start the furnace, it would surely refine quite a few blood qi pills.

However... returning to the county was a matter for the evening. Right now, there was something more important to do.

Shen Xiuhan took a deep breath and slowly removed a bead from around his neck.

The bead was only the size of a fingernail, crystal clear and lustrous all over. Within it, a faint azure wave of light flowed like water, exuding a spiritual aura.

【Spiritual Artifact · Overturning Sea Bead】!

He gripped the bead tightly in his palm, his hawk-like gaze coldly turning toward the west of the lake.

Three to five miles west through the water mist lay the headquarters of Chenjian Dock, whose fierce reputation echoed throughout Cangzhou—

Dongyi Island!

And the pale-gold light representing the inheritance of the Diaohai Pavilion core disciple was shimmering in that direction, like a silent temptation, tugging at his mind day and night.

In the past,

Shen Xiuhan's cultivation had been too shallow. Facing that dragon's den and tiger's lair where thousands of water bandits congregated, he naturally couldn't act rashly.

But now, he had stepped into the Tendon Tempering stage and had this 【Overturning Sea Bead】 to protect him.

This treasure not only allowed a person to walk underwater as if on flat ground, but it could also conceal a living person's aura.

Unless the opponent had cultivated an eye divine ability, it would be extremely difficult for them to detect him.

“It's time to go and test the waters.”

Shen Xiuhan licked his lips. He rowed the black-awning boat to a nearby hidden reed marsh to conceal it, then leaped into the water.

Splash!

The moment he entered the water, the 【Overturning Sea Bead】 in his hand emitted a soft, azure halo.

The halo expanded rapidly, turning into a crystal-clear bubble that enveloped Shen Xiuhan entirely.

Inside the bubble, it was cool and dry, the air was fresh, and he could even clearly see every blade of grass, stone, swimming fish, and fine sand on the murky lakebed.

The azure bubble followed his will, slicing through the torrents like a swimming fish and quietly slipping toward the west, leaving a faint blue trail underwater that was instantly dispersed by the undercurrents.

“As expected of a spiritual artifact...”

A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Shen Xiuhan's eyes.

Since he started practicing martial arts, his horizons had broadened significantly.

Among the world's weapons and tools, anything associated with the word 'spiritual' was extraordinary.

Equipment was divided into precious artifacts and spiritual artifacts:

Although precious artifacts were sharp, they mostly lacked spiritual awareness and were divided into three grades: high, medium, and low.

But even a low-grade precious artifact was extremely expensive, sharp enough to slice through gold and jade, and far beyond what any so-called hundred-refined weapon could compare to!

According to Second Senior Brother Xu Chuan, their master, Mei Shuangfeng, possessed a precious artifact.

This artifact was a claw glove named 【Face-Tearer】!

It was a high-grade precious artifact crafted several years ago, when their master commissioned a master blacksmith in the prefecture city, costing hundreds of taels of silver and a piece of spiritual ore.

Relying on the fierce reputation of 【Face-Tearer】, Mei Shuangfeng was able to establish a foothold in Changyun's Inner City as an outsider, opening a martial arts hall and taking on disciples.

Spiritual artifacts, however, were far superior to precious artifacts.

Xu Chuan had never seen one either, only reading about them in ancient records. It was said that they had already birthed a faint spiritual intelligence, allowing them to connect with their master's mind.

This 【Overturning Sea Bead】 perfectly fit those characteristics, and it was a spiritual artifact certified by the system.

Shen Xiuhan controlled the bubble, traveling through the water for about fifteen minutes.

The surrounding currents gradually slowed, and the light and shadows became fragmented. Occasionally, broken pottery shards and shipwreck remains could be seen in the silt at the bottom of the lake, relics of some long-forgotten time.

He slowly rose to the surface, letting the azure bubble float up quietly until only half his head emerged, his gaze quickly scanning the area ahead.

Before his eyes stretched a colossal mass extending for dozens of miles.

The terrain was grand with undulating mountains, its scale more than a hundred times larger than Yunyi Island.

This island was none other than Dongyi Island!

In the distance, pavilions and buildings rose in close succession, their blue bricks and black tiles appearing and disappearing in the morning mist. Layers of bamboo houses stretched out row after row, and one could even faintly see vast stretches of farmland and vegetable gardens on the island, with flourishing fruit trees. It was, for all intents and purposes, a heavily fortified water town.